See Ya On The Other Side of St. George!!!

Welp, it’s race week!!! And while I wish things would’ve turned out a little differently for me this training, I’m still super excited for the race. I mentioned in my previous post that I have a few friends running it who’ve had amazing training cycles–I’m excited to have a front row view of their performance 🙂

To recap this cycle quickly, June and July were pretty good. I was at the start of my training cycle, not working, and excited for what was to come.

125 June miles

149 July miles

Then I went back to work. It wasn’t so much the work schedule interfering, but more so the work stress that made it difficult for me. August was pretty awful.

And September was bad too–Despite an amazing 20 miler, the rest of the miles were pretty sub par.

84 August miles

88 September miles

So with two months of running but not running, I’ve decided to not put the pressure on myself to attempt a BQ at St. George. I can’t look at these numbers/photos and feel confident enough to give it a shot. I would love to PR (3:44) and hope that this training will allow for that, but my number one goal (always) is to finish.

With that being said, in a couple of days, I’ll be on the road to Utah for my 6th marathon!! I don’t know what the outcome will be, but I’m pretty certain that it’s going to be a blast!! Follow me on Instagram for updates at @hellyontherun 😀

Thank you all for your love and support ❤

xoxo,

helly

The Bright Side

Posted by hellyontherun in Marathon Training, Running and tagged with Cheerleader, Marathon Training, Running Buddies September 26, 2017

In the lowest moments of this training cycle, I wondered how I’d find the motivation to toe the start line, to even get myself there. But as I’ve come out of the darkness, I’ve been illuminated with amazing training cycles, not my own, but of friends who are also running this race.

My husband travels A TON and for this cycle, he’s been home for the longest stretch for a training cycle ever. Because of consistent training, he’s been nailing his tempos and long runs and I’m super, super excited for what St. George will bring for him.

My friend Jenna, who I met through my coach, is also running St. George to Boston Qualify. Man has it been inspiring to see her run. I have zero doubts she’s going to ring that BQ bell.

And my training buddy, Ashley, has just been throwing down her runs. Every time I see her updates on her Insta, I get super pumped. She’s also training to BQ, and I really feel like she’s got a shot.

BQ training buddy ❤ #makeithappen

I’ve known Ashley for quite some time; in fact, she was one of the first runners I met from my run club. It was at track a few years ago that I saw her making the rounds and she just cruised by me. Her form was amazing and she made it look so easy. I thought to myself then, “I want to run with her.”

Since then, I’ve been able to run with her quite often and when I decided to go for a Boston Qualifier, I convinced her to go for it too. We decided on a race and said we’d train as much as we could together. A few of our run club members thought for sure we’d get tired of hanging out or let our competitiveness drive us apart, but nope, six months later we are going strong–still rooting for each other.

I’ve been lucky to have such supportive friends to train with. Last year for NYC Marathon, my friend Jen was often at my side cheering me on. This year Ashley has lent her shoulder quite a few times when I struggled with a workout (or two or three).

I’m reminded often that running is not a solo sport. It can be, but if your running friends are your family, much like mine are, you become a part of their journey. You become a supporter of their goal. You want to celebrate their success.

And I want a front row ticket for that ❤

–Do you have running friends that are like family?

–Do you find joy in other people’s success?

The Little 20 Miler That Could…

Posted by hellyontherun in Marathon Training, Running and tagged with 20 miler, Long Run, Marathon Training September 21, 2017

You guys (and girls), I had the freaking best 20 miler of my life this past Saturday! Do you remember my shitty attempt at a long run from the week before? No? I don’t either because this 20 miler trumps it from my memory bank!

I had plans to meet my St. George Marathon training buddy Ashley at 4 a.m. to start this 20 miler of ours. I set my alarm for 3:15 and I did actually wake up at 3:15 –ONLY TO TURN IT RIGHT BACK OFF!!

At 3:50 I woke up in panic realizing that I’d overslept. I didn’t even have enough time to brush my teeth so off I went with gorilla breath making it to our meeting spot at 4:05. Luckily, like the true training buddy she is, Ashley was there waiting for me.

We paced ourselves perfectly. Our fueling game was on point.

And the only thing negative about this run were the last 5 miles. 😀

Booyah!

Seriously. When we were at the 13 mile mark, we said that we’d try to pick it up for maybe miles 19 and 20. But we found ourselves picking up speed at mile 15 and we just rolled with it.

It was amazing.

I’m not sure I can BQ at St. George. I’m not sure I can PR at St. George. But this run gives the confidence boost I needed to give both a shot.

Trust the process
I can do all things

Viva la taper!

–Do 20 milers (or long runs) scare you? I hadn’t done a 20 miler in over a year! (Remember, I’m a Hanson’s gal.) And I wasn’t so much scared about this run more than just scared about long running in general. Since the last few have been horrible.

–Are you an alarm runner or do you wake up naturally?